7.5 Major Quake - Guerrero, Mexico

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-mexico-city-earthquake-20140418,0,3724191.story#axzz2zG2X5c1J

MEXICO CITY -- A powerful earthquake shook a wide area of Mexico on Friday, terrifying residents and sending many fleeing into the streets.
There were no initial reports of injuries and only minor damage in the capital, though information from elsewhere in central Mexico was still coming in.
The United States Geological Survey said the quake at about 9:30 a.m. local time had a preliminary magnitude of 7.2, which would make it one of the stronger temblors registered in Mexico City in several years.

The quake was 14 miles deep and felt in nine of Mexico's 31 states, according to the USGS, with the epicenter located in the coastal state of Guerrero about 200 miles southwest of the capital.
Guerrero, between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo, is in seismicallly active region and is often slow to give accounts of damage because of the remoteness of some communities.
Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancerra said several walls had fallen down in the Zona Rosa section of the capital but that no injuries had been reported.
"The important part is that we have no reports of injured people," he told journalists. "We did see that many buildings were evacuated of their people, and we are continuing to survey the capital."
Ricardo de la Cruz, civil protection chief for the Interior Ministry, said: "We have only gotten reports of minor damage."
Good Friday is an important holiday in largely Roman Catholic Mexico; most businesses were closed and people were home or attending religious services. Some fled from their houses barefoot and carrying pillows.
The quake knocked out electricity, traffic lights and cellular telephone service in some parts of the capital.

Much of Mexico City was destroyed and more than 10,000 people were killed in a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 1985, but officials say they have put more safeguards into place since then.
Mancerra, who was in the middle of a Good Friday news conference when the quake struck, said “protocols” were being immediately launched in the sprawling capital, including dispatching helicopters to survey the most vulnerable neighborhoods.

It was kind of scary. Nothing big happened, we all know the proceedings.
I was kind of hoping for a quake like this to happen, since there had been months, more than a year, without a noticeable one. Energy was released, probably sparing us from a bigger quake in the near future.
The bad thing is that cable TV went out, has not come back and the baseball game is about to start.

Looks like y'all lucked out on this one.


The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake at about 9:30 a.m. (10:30 a.m. EDT; 1430 GMT) was centered on a long-dormant faultline northwest of the Pacific resort of Acapulco, where many Mexicans are vacationing for the Easter holiday.

It was felt across at least a half-dozen states and Mexico's capital, where it collapsed several walls and left larges cracks in some facades. Debris covered sidewalks around the city.

Around the region, there were reports of isolated and minor damage, such as fallen fences, trees and broken windows. Chilpancingo, capital of the southern state of Guerrero, where the quake was centered, reported a power outage, but service was restored after 15 minutes.

...


The USGS says the Guerrero Gap has the potential to produce a quake as strong as magnitude 8.4, potentially much more powerful than the magnitude-8.1 quake that killed 9,500 people and devastated large sections of Mexico City in 1985.
Mexico City itself is vulnerable even to distant earthquakes because much of it sits atop the muddy sediments of drained lake beds that quiver as quake waves hit.
The 1985 quake was centered 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the capital on the Pacific Coast.

Three fallen fences, one building to be evacuated.
Debris schmebris!

Noted, you will be given a medal on Yahoo.

To non yahoo fantasy baseball observers, this is not a dig, but a snarf at yahoo, that gives ridiculous medals, oh never mind.



Meantime, toward the coast, how is that going by now?

Fbaezer has a few extremely interesting accounts of earthquakes in Mexico the city on a2k.. No one I listen to more, no matter the kidding about baseball.

Over 500 damaged homes across the country, a couple of broken roads. No human casualties.
Not bad for an earthquake as strong as yesterday's.

A 6.6 just a few minutes ago. Not amusing. It felt stronger than that.

Was just coming to post that. This one was more shallow and about 6 miles further than the last.

M6.4 - GUERRERO, MEXICO

Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 6.4
Date-Time
8 May 2014 17:00:17 UTC
8 May 2014 12:00:17 near epicenter
8 May 2014 11:00:17 standard time in your timezone
Location 17.385N 100.656W
Depth 23 km
Distances
15 km (9 mi) N of Tecpan de Galeana, Mexico
31 km (19 mi) NW of Atoyac de Alvarez, Mexico
66 km (40 mi) ESE of Petatlan, Mexico
73 km (45 mi) WNW of Coyuca de Benitez, Mexico
277 km (171 mi) SW of Mexico City, Mexico